Prog4you.com - Progressive Rock Review

: : Pandromania : :

Pandromania is German-based Soniq Theaters 5th release since the millennium. Soniq Theater isn't a band as such though; as it is a one-man project where the one man is Alfred Mueller. He writes the songs, plays the song on his keyboards, then mix them, produce them and release them on CD-Rs available to buy for those who want.

One man band projects, and especially those that are keyboards only based, most often aren't too interesting affairs. It takes a lot of skill to get it all right when it comes to writing, playing, producing and releasing your own music.
Thankfully Alfred Mueller has the skills and the talent to pull it off, although the end result is variable in this case.

The main turn-off factor in Mueller's releases are the keyboards. Or rather; when he uses the keyboards to emulate other instruments. Although the emulations are better than average, even an unskilled ear like my own can tell that it isn't the real thing when I hear the drums, the bass, the guitar and the other instruments emulated. So those that find that aspect of this music troublesome to accept, better look elsewhere for their musical enjoyments. But for those still interested...

This release is a variable affair. And for me, the first half or so of this album represents the "miss" in "hit and miss"; with the one exception being the title track, where the fast-paced dramatic playing and the melodic and rather cool output kept things interesting.

But the highlights of the album are to be found among the last 4 tracks in my opinion. And the first of those 4, "Adagio in G" is the best of them, close to 2 minutes of pure relaxing bliss comparable to Tomita at his best. "Pulsar", with a sound somewhere between Gandalf and Kitaro is almost as good, with floating synthwork on top of mystic rhythms and some very nice melody lines popping up now and again. The last two tracks are good symphonic workouts with catchy melody lines and captivating moods; but not quite in the same class as the two tracks mentioned earlier here.

Still, even if the end result is varied this is a release worth checking out, especially for fans of keyboards and symphonic prog. Mueller is an excellent composer at his best, and the playing is immaculate. Personally, I hope that some day his tracks will be covered by a real band though; as my gut feeling tells me that these songs will sound better being played with regular instruments plus synth then what they sound like being played by synth alone.

Rating: 7/10
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen

: : Visit the Artist’s Website : :

: : Discography : :
Seventh Heaven (2007)
Enchanted (2006)
Pandromania (2005)
This Mortal Coil (2004)
The Third Eye (2003)
a SECOND of ACTion (2002)
Soniq Theater (2000)

(Review originally written for www.progressiveears.com)